Carrara Studio 2 Coming in June

Eovia taking preorders now
By Dave Nagel

Carrara fans take heart: Eovia, the company that acquired Carrara from Metacreations, has started previewing Carrara Studio 2, a major overhaul of the 3D modeling, animation and rendering suite. It will be available for Mac OS 8/9, Mac OS X and Windows beginning June 5. Eovia is taking preorders now and offering discounts to users of the previous version, as well as users of Amapi 3D, Infini-D and Ray Dream.

I had a chance to see a preview of Carrara Studio 2 back in January at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. While few of the final release features had been implemented at the time, I did get a look at the software's new "Photon Map" feature--a new set of algorithms combining certain features of raytracing and radiosity. Photon Maps are able to compute the global illumination of an entire 3D scene, adding Phong shading, reflection, refraction, radiosity, caustics, area light emitters (with no limitation on geometry and complexity), sky dome illumination and environment illumination.

But that's just one of the new features in the version 2.0 overhaul. Other new features include:

Bones and Skinning, including automatic calculation of influence zones.

Subdivision Modeling.

Full support of multiple processors in the native Mac OS X version, as well as Windows versions.

Improvements in usability, stability and workflow, such as an enhanced object selection tool, free and volumic particle system, new physics engine, and enhanced antialiasing.

The English/international version of Carrara Studio 2 will begin shipping June 5 on all platforms for $399. Fully localized versions in French and German will follow shortly. Upgrades from Carrara Studio 1 will run $149; upgrades from MetaCreations Carrara, Infini-D, Ray Dream or Amapi 3D will run $199. For more information or to order the software, visit http://www.eovia.com.